Integrating basic laboratory skills and clinical practice.

Editor – Over the years there have been many discussions on the inclusion of various types of extra skills teaching into medical curricula, on the integration of basic science and clinical aspects, and on the benefits or not of the intercalated BSc. Many thought-provoking ideas have been published in, amongst others, the Letters to the Editor and Really Good Stuff sections of Medical Education. Despite additional teaching of extra skills, there has been a severe reduction in the number of physiological and biochemical practicals included in medical curricula. This has not only led to the disappearance of analytical laboratory skills, but, and perhaps more significantly, to a decline in students' understanding of the need for proper collection and handling of biological specimens in laboratory evidence-based medicine. It has also led to a decline in training in how to carry out basic but valuable examinations of urine and blood specimens, which is particularly important for those who will eventually practise medicine in remote rural areas where no such facilities are available.